Strong Positioning Statements Withstand the Test of Time

Posted by Rahna on December 17, 2007 under Branding, Strategy | Be the First to Comment

A strong brand positioning statement can apparently withstand toddler-hood, our judicial system and the test of time.  The Wall Street Journal is reporting on a campaign that Domino’s is introducing to play off of its “30 minute delivery” heritage. 

It’s a smart play on an existing heritage, as the WSJ reports, “Research found that as many as 30% of Domino’s customers still remembered it as the 30-minute delivery chain, even though those ads hadn’t run since Bill Clinton’s first year as president. Meantime, delivery had become an even more important part of American culture because of online shopping and movie delivery.”

The WSJ article states, “Domino’s made its name in pizza delivery by running ads that offered a discounted or free pie if the driver didn’t arrive within 30 minutes of an order. But in 1993, a St. Louis woman who was involved in an auto accident with a Domino’s delivery person sued the company on the grounds that the 30-minute pledge led to accidents…After hiring a new advertising agency, Domino’s now plans to rebrand itself around a play on the old slogan. New ads slated to start running Christmas Eve will carry the tagline “You Got 30 Minutes.”   The idea is to tell customers that ordering from Domino’s gives them back 30 minutes they would have spent rustling up a meal. But it stops short of promising delivery in a half hour.”

The only part that doesn’t make sense is that they said that they are shifting their target audience to the under 30 crowd.  Target consumers aged 18-30 were anywhere from 3-15  years old!  I’m guessing that the media plan delivering the 30-minute guarantee in the late 80’s and early 90’s was not aimed at this target!

Regardless, kudos to the Agency for having the discipline to leverage the Domino’s heritage rather than settling for just another empty, “me-too”  quality pizza message

You can read the whole story here:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119784843600332539-email.html